Creativity Quote by Ben E. King

Ben E. King’s line lands like a tossed-off aside, but it quietly rewrites the usual mythology around legacy musicians. Instead of leaning on grandeur, he drops into the working register: Vegas gigs, steady bookings, the kind of professional circuit where you earn your keep by showing up and delivering. “Vegas work” isn’t romantic; it’s a code phrase for endurance, craft, and a certain humility about the marketplace. For an artist whose voice helped define an era, choosing this framing is its own statement: the legend still has a day job.

The second half, “work with the comedians,” is where the subtext sharpens. Comedians are timing obsessives, ruthless editors of dead air. To say you’re in their orbit suggests King’s comfort with precision and with the unglamorous mechanics of live entertainment. It also hints at the variety-show ecosystem that once connected singers, comics, and bandleaders in the same room, a world where music isn’t treated as untouchable art but as part of a night’s programming. That’s not diminishing; it’s professional pride.

Context matters: by the late-career Vegas circuit, many R&B pioneers were navigating a culture that celebrated them as nostalgia while paying them like labor. King’s phrasing sidesteps bitterness. He doesn’t demand reverence; he claims relevance through work. The understated tone is the point: a musician reminding you that careers don’t run on aura. They run on gigs, collaborators, and the discipline to meet an audience wherever it is.